1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a connector.
2. Description of the Related Art
U.S. Pat. No. 5,709,560 discloses a connector with a housing and supporting shafts on the housing. The connector also has a lever that is mounted rotatably on the shafts. The lever engages a mating connector and functions as a force multiplying mechanism as the lever is rotated for moving the connector and the mating connector to a properly connected state with a low operation force. The lever has bearings and each supporting shaft has two retaining pieces that face each other with a linear slit therebetween. The retaining pieces deform resiliently towards the slits as the shafts are inserted into the bearings while assembling the lever. Leading ends of the retaining pieces resiliently engage the opening edges of the bearings to prevent detachment of the lever from the housing when the lever is assembled properly.
An operation force associated with the connection of the housing and the mating connector increases in the process of rotating the lever and deforms the retaining pieces towards the slits. As a result, there has been a likelihood that the lever will widened and inadvertently detach from the housing.
The invention was developed in view of the above situation and an object thereof is to prevent a lever from being detached from a housing.